Søren Kierkegaard once said, “The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.” He’s absolutely correct. The Bible is very easy to understand. The question really is whether or not we want to hear what it has to say. With knowledge comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes obligation. If we know what the Word says, we are either compelled to obey it or reject it.
commitment
What’s Influencing You?
We become what we allow ourselves to consume. We become like those with whom we surround ourselves, and those we seek to emulate. Whether or not something influences us is not the correct question. Each of us is being influenced every day by something or someone. The only question we then have to ask ourselves is who or what is doing the influencing. Unless we are intentional about what we choose to allow into our hearts and minds, we will slip into a pattern of living that is not consistent with the person Christ created us to be.
We Can’t Stay Here
As I look around at the state of the church today, one thought keeps resonating in my head: “We can’t stay here”. Here is the dead religion of our fathers. Here is where over two billion people survive on less than $2 a day. Here is where countless young people have turned their back on Christ and walked away from His church. Here is a world filled with hatred, deceit, murder, rape, incest, slavery, and pedophilia. Here is a world that has lost its way. Here is a church full of people who have the cure but are too afraid to step outside of their comfortable air conditioned mausoleums we call “church”. Here the world lies bleeding. Here there is no hope. We can’t stay here.
Finding God’s Will
Are you still waiting for divine revelation to strike like lightening before you engage in building the Kingdom of God here on earth? If so, I have some great news for you. That revelation occurred 2,000 years ago when God walked among us in the person of Jesus Christ. You and I have been commissioned since the day we committed our lives to Jesus. One of the overriding themes in Steven Furtick’s book, “Greater” is to “stop waiting for what you want, and start working with what you’ve got. Your greatest limitation is God’s greatest opportunity.” In other words, the time to get started is now. No more excuses, no more rationalizations. You are equipped to begin right now.
Mediocrity
“Mediocrity is the signature of chronic inconsistency” writes Jim Collins in his latest book, “Great by Choice”. This should serve as a stinging rebuke to most of us as we consider our walk with Jesus. The follow through on our devotion to Him is pathetic, as evidenced by the condition of the world around us. We long to make an impact for Christ, but we sputter and hesitate, stuck in an endless loop of starting and stopping. New Year’s resolutions to read our Bible and pray every day are forgotten by February, and we disengage our commitment to the poor as soon as we hit a rough financial patch. The problem is we lack the disciplined consistency to truly follow Jesus.